Joshua 10:28-43 - Biblical Obedience Gets Easier With Practice

Did you know that obedience gets easier with practice?  Well, now you do.  That first battle with temptation takes courage to win so we should celebrate it. There may be some mistakes along the way but if we don’t give up, if we keep coming back to Jesus with soft hearts and that desire to become more like Him, He will give us victory. Then we can trade in the rhythm of sin for the rhythm of the abundant life. 

We’re in Joshua 10:28-43, the part of the story where Joshua and Israel gain much needed traction in taking the land God had promised them.

Transcript

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Did you know that obedience gets easier with practice? Well, now you do. That first battle with temptation takes courage to win. And so we really should take a moment and celebrate that when it happens. And there will be mistakes early in the going. But if we don't give up, if we keep coming back to Jesus with soft hearts and that desire to become more and more like him, he will give us victory. And then, then we can trade in that rhythm of sin for a different pattern, a pattern that is full of life. On that happy note, welcome to Meet Me in the Word. I am genuinely glad that you've joined us today. We're in Joshua chapter 10, verses 28 through 43. It's the part of the story where Joshua and all of Israel with him really gain some traction in their conquest of the land that God has promised to them. We're going to jump into this text together. But before we do that, I just wanted to take a moment and say thank you to all of you for the various ways that you support this ministry. So whether you are just uh jumping in and listening, that actually matters. If you click and subscribe, that helps us make this more accessible to others as well. And thank you also for taking time to pray. We really want God's best for all of what's happening here. All right, let's go ahead and pray and then we'll move into the text together. Jesus, thank you for this amazing day that you've given us. God, thank you that we really can experience victory when we trust you and follow what you've asked us to do. Be with us now. We're here to meet with you. Amen. All right, we're gonna read all of this passage together, but I wanted to just point out that you will notice probably that there is a lot of repetition in the way that this part of the story is told. And so what I'm inviting you to do is listen for uh the meter of the words, listen for the patterns that pop up along the way, and then uh we'll reflect on this and uh and think about it here together. So Joshua chapter 10, verses 28 through 43. Go ahead and open up your copy of God's word and you can follow along. That day Joshua took Macada, he put the city and its king to the sword and totally destroyed everyone in it. He left no survivors, and he did to the king of Macada as he had done to the king of Jericho. Then Joshua and all Israel with him moved on from Macada to Libna and attacked it. The Lord also gave that city and its king into Israel's hand, the city and everyone in it. Joshua put to the sword. He left no survivors there, and he did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho. Then Joshua and all Israel with him moved on from Libda, Libna to Lakish. He took up positions against it and attacked it. The Lord gave Lachish into Israel's hands, and Joshua took it on the second day. The city and everyone in it he put to the sword just as he had done to Libna. Meanwhile, Horam, king of Gezer, came up with came up to help Lachish, but Joshua defeated him and his army until no survivors were left. Then Joshua and all Israel moved from Lakish to Eglon. They took up positions against it and attacked it. They captured it that same day and put it to the sword and totally destroyed everyone in it, just as they had done to Lachish. Then Joshua and all Israel with him went up from Eglon to Hebron and attacked it. They took the city and put it to the sword together with its king, its villages, and everyone in it. They left no survivors, just as at Eglon, they totally destroyed it and everyone in it. Then Joshua and all Israel with him turned around and attacked Dabir. They took the city, its king, and its villages, and put them to the sword, everyone in it they totally destroyed. They left no survivors. They did to Dabir and its king as they had done to Libna and its king and to Hebron. So Joshua subdued the whole region, including the hill country, the Negev, the western foothills, and the mountain slopes, together with all their kings. He left no survivors, he totally destroyed all who breathed, just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded. Joshua subdued them from Kadesh Barneh to Gaza, and from the whole region of Goshen to Gibeon. All these kings and their lands Joshua conquered in one campaign because the Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel. Then Joshua returned with all Israel to the camp at Gilgal. All right, let's go ahead and pause and listen to God. You can pause this podcast if that's helpful for you. All right, let's uh reflect and look back here on this passage we just read. Uh, did you notice uh that rhythm that was present there? There are a couple that I'll point out for us. You I'm sure notice them as well. Uh the first one is that phrase, then Joshua and all Israel with him. And then I also noticed quite a bit uh the city and everyone in it. Those two phrases happen a lot. And I actually think that there are a couple more. I'm just wondering if you found them. And no, I'm not gonna like give you the answers. You can discover those things uh on your own. So I wanted us just to appreciate uh the cadence that's there. And this isn't a literary class, but the nature of the text, I think, helps us to notice something else, something that's maybe more significant from a spiritual perspective. And it's that Joshua and Israel had learned from their earlier battles. They learned about the impact sin can have, you know, from their experience with, well, I guess what happened, they didn't know about it, but what happened in Jericho and then was uh brought out to the light in their battle against AI. And the value also of seeking the Lord rather than trusting their own like gut instinct or their own intuition or their own wisdom through the Gibeonite deception. And we see that they, I think, wanted, you know, like just generally, if we're to take a look at the nation of Israel and take a look at Joshua, did they want to do what God asked them to do? Yeah, I think that's pretty safe to say. And yet they had to go through some struggles, they had to go through some battles before they got to the place where conquering the land, the land that God had promised to them, was going to happen in a, I don't want to say an easier way, but maybe in a in a more productive or a just like kind of a a better, more efficient uh sort of a manner. And so we just we see that all of that uh is is there. By the way, this is I I I hesitate to make too much of this, but I was looking at the different um the different cities and the different kings that they conquered in this part of their campaign, the southern campaign. And uh the one that sort of jumped out to me was that Lake ish. I think that's the right way to pronounce it. Um I could be wrong about that, but it actually means invincible. And I thought that was a little bit humorous that that you can kind of understand, you know, sort of the way we do with with sports teams. We want like an aggressive, uh, you know, powerful name for the the team that we that we cheer for. And so we we have those sorts of things, but yeah, the name of their city was invincible, and turned out it wasn't. So anyway, that's just free of charge. There you there you go. All right. Uh there are really some things that I wanted to point out outside of the rhythm. I think the the bulk of this passage kind of speaks for itself. We just see Israel and Joshua leading them uh under the Lord's direction, going through and doing the things that God had told them to do. But there are some um almost editorial comments here that come in verse uh 40 through 43 that I wanted to point out. And the first one comes in uh in the second half of verse 40, uh where it says this uh, excuse me, he totally destroyed all who breathed, just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded. And that whole bit about just as the Lord, the God of Israel had commanded, that's a really important understanding. When we have that clear direction from the Lord, uh we not only can move forward uh in confidence, like it's not just a possibility, we should, you know, and so much of the Christian life, so much of following Jesus is figuring out what God's will is for us, right? We have, especially when we're younger, but not just then, even later on in life, Lord, what am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to pursue? How should I use the time and the skills and the expertise and the passions given to me in order to serve you well? What path have you prepared for me to walk in? Those are really profound questions. And so we spend quite a bit of time figuring that stuff out. But when we do have that clear, you know, one, we we don't have to wrestle with the what, right? Or or even the why necessarily. We just get to do the thing. And that's where we really have that opportunity to to step into obedience. And it's not just that we can, we should. We really should step into that. And we see kind of that happening. I don't want to say finally, but in a more um pronounced way as they move into this this season here, uh, as they they conquer and take the cities that they're supposed to take. The next bit comes to us in verse 42. All these kings and their lands Joshua conquered in one campaign, because the Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel. You know, Joshua's and Israel's part in all this was to do the thing that God told them to do. That's that's their part, right? Uh that was their responsibility to be obedient to God's command. But the victories, the strength, the endurance to do all of that in one campaign, that was all because of the Lord. The Lord gave them the strength to do that. And, you know, just full confession, I've I've never been to war, I've not fought in that kind of a uh a situation, but I can imagine that there would be just natural fatigue from battle after battle after battle, from marching, from doing all these different things. And, you know, yeah, you physically would just get worn out. I'm sure that, you know, they're they're glad that they're winning, but still there's just there's a lot going on. But the Lord was their sustainer, and that is a really important uh note for us. Just reminding us here that this entire book of Joshua and even this story isn't about the greatness of Joshua, it's about the greatness of God. And I hope that's what we take with us uh as we move on from this passage and and just carry on with our day. I have three points of reflection for us. And for those of you who are like regular listeners or watchers, this might be surprising. Zero of them are questions. There you go. You're welcome for that. So the first one is that obedience is a daily choice. Just kind of coming back to our opening here together. Obedience does get easier with practice. It is also a daily choice. I don't think we stumble into obedience, right? That's it's not the way that it works. I don't think we just wake up and roll out of bed and be like, man, yeah, I'm just gonna do exactly what I'm supposed to do. We all need to make that conscious choice and to set ourselves up for success. So obedience is a daily choice. Don't ever think that it isn't, but yes, it will get easier over time. The second thing, strength comes from God. And again, we're extracting these principles out of an historical event. That's what was happening there. Um, they're conquering the land of Canaan. We're not, right? Like we're we're just trying to do life. But strength, just like it was true for them, is true for us. The strength to win those battles against temptation, or just to endure life, or to face whatever obstacles that you're going through and just doing the things that God has called you into, that that really does come from the Lord. And when we try to operate on our own, we should expect burnout. We should expect things like discouragement, maybe even depression. When we try to function in our own steam, we should find ourselves probably sort of broken because it's exhausting. But when we come to the Lord and we say, Lord, would you be my strength? Lord, would you be my courage? Would you be that uh that water of life that bubbles up inside of me? That's a completely different equation. And then finally, this Jesus wants you to win. Don't ever think that he doesn't. He's never really in that in that business where he's like, huh, let's try and like trick this person to see if they're actually loyal or not. No, he's he's on your side. He loves you, he cares for you, he wants you to have victory over the things that entangle you and stop you. So just remember Jesus is on your side. You can come to him with everything. Let's go ahead and pray. Jesus, thank you for this wonderful day that you've given us. God, thank you for your word. Thank you for the reminders that uh victory is ours in you. God help us to remain faithful. Thank you, that we can trust you with everything. We love you. Amen.